Forces lab
Abstract:
The previous lab explored the effect of gravity on free fall. It was determined that acceleration is always constant under free fall. However, in this lab, acceleration was observed under different forces, other than just gravity. Therefore, depending on how strong the forces being exerted were, acceleration differed. It wasn’t constant anymore. Using a glider on a air track and a pulley, different masses were attached at the end of the string and the glider was allowed to move on the air track and the movement of the glider were analyzed using Datastudio. It was expected that the heavier the masses were, the higher the acceleration would be, however, in this experiment, there were some possible sources of error which prevented the data to have a greater percent error than expected.
1. Newton’s First law of motion says that an object will keep doing whatever its doing, so if it is in motion, it will stay in motion (unless acted upon by a net external force) and if it is at rest, it will stay at rest unless acted upon by a net external force.
2.
3.
Hanging mass Mass ratio Acceleration error G
5 57.4 0.169 0.011 9.7006
20 15.1 0.602 0.019 9.0902
40 8.05 0.847 0.034 6.818
For both masses, expected g would be (9.8 m/s)/s. However, observed G for m=20g was 9.0902 m/s/s and observed G for m=40g was 6.818 m/s/s. In order to calculate the percent errors, the difference between the observed and expected values were taken for both masses and the result of that was divided by the expected value and that answer was multiplied by 100. Percent error for when m=20g is 7.24% and for m=40g, percent error is 30.43%.
4. Sources of error:
Although, the air track was friction-less, the pulley that was bearing the weight, wasn’t friction-free. The friction from the pulley definitely played a role in the obtained G values
Maybe the air track wasn’t fully friction-free due to technical difficulties, which accounts for the obtained
The previous lab explored the effect of gravity on free fall. It was determined that acceleration is always constant under free fall. However, in this lab, acceleration was observed under different forces, other than just gravity. Therefore, depending on how strong the forces being exerted were, acceleration differed. It wasn’t constant anymore. Using a glider on a air track and a pulley, different masses were attached at the end of the string and the glider was allowed to move on the air track and the movement of the glider were analyzed using Datastudio. It was expected that the heavier the masses were, the higher the acceleration would be, however, in this experiment, there were some possible sources of error which prevented the data to have a greater percent error than expected.
1. Newton’s First law of motion says that an object will keep doing whatever its doing, so if it is in motion, it will stay in motion (unless acted upon by a net external force) and if it is at rest, it will stay at rest unless acted upon by a net external force.
2.
3.
Hanging mass Mass ratio Acceleration error G
5 57.4 0.169 0.011 9.7006
20 15.1 0.602 0.019 9.0902
40 8.05 0.847 0.034 6.818
For both masses, expected g would be (9.8 m/s)/s. However, observed G for m=20g was 9.0902 m/s/s and observed G for m=40g was 6.818 m/s/s. In order to calculate the percent errors, the difference between the observed and expected values were taken for both masses and the result of that was divided by the expected value and that answer was multiplied by 100. Percent error for when m=20g is 7.24% and for m=40g, percent error is 30.43%.
4. Sources of error:
Although, the air track was friction-less, the pulley that was bearing the weight, wasn’t friction-free. The friction from the pulley definitely played a role in the obtained G values
Maybe the air track wasn’t fully friction-free due to technical difficulties, which accounts for the obtained